Status er viktig for menneske, dyr, og (mi hypotese), bedrifter. For tida les eg ein del om status, og eg kom over dette gode eksempelet frå araberskriketrosten:
Arabian babblers, a species of social birds, provide a prototypical nonhuman example of self-sacrificial behavior that acts as costly signaling. Individual babblers compete with unrelated group members to be the group’s sentinel, who is responsible for watching for predators from tree-tops in order to warn the group of potential danger (Zahavi & Zahavi, 1997). Given that the sentinel’s duty entails putting itself at a higher risk of death than other babblers, one might predict that individuals would attempt to avoid this self-sacrificial job. Yet some studies have shown that babblers actively compete with each other for this high-status position. Consistent with costly signaling theory, the more time a babbler spends as a sentinel, the higher its status and access to mates in the group.